The new term started well today for the Yamaha World Supersport Team despite the weather not exactly according to plan this morning at Lausitz, Germany. Parkes finished the day in third with Tommy Hill taking provisional seventh. With light drizzle during the morning's free practice most of the field decided to sit out the first session of the weekend, not wanting to make any early mistakes. Parkes was one such rider as he already knows the circuit very well. Team mate Tommy Hill could not afford such luxury as this is his first time at the German track and so he went out for ten minutes in the drier moments of the session, finishing tenth. Yamaha still managed to fill the top two slots in free practice with Yamaha Team GMT-94 riders Gimbert and Checa taking the two fastest times respectively.
The afternoon qualifying session was when the gloves came off, or rather went on, for both riders. With the weather drier and warmer than this morning, both riders set out on long runs. Parkes ran near the top from the start, taking second place with half an hour to go. He focused on finding the right set-up and brought his times down lap by lap but finished third when Charpentier took first. Tommy Hill climbed his way up from 14th to sixth, where he remained until the last minute when the change in the leader pushed him down into seventh.
Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli had less success today, battling against set-up problems throughout the day. He finished the day in an uncharacteristic 17th place.
Broc Parkes (3rd - 1'41.994 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)"My result is good so to have so early on in the weekend. I have some improvements to make during tomorrow because of today's damp start slowing improvement down. I really wanted to test more tyres than I had time for because rain tomorrow would make it more difficult to check tyre choice. But I think I have it almost sorted with regards to tyres. I'm pleased with a front row result on a Friday; I'm keen to get out there tomorrow and really give it my best to get pole."
Tommy Hill (7th - 1'43.215 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)"I only did five laps this morning but I've learnt the track pretty quickly. Though to learn is one thing; to master it is another. I'm pretty happy at the moment, I feel I'm there or thereabouts with pace and set-up. I wanted to spend quite a bit of time on track today and I didn't get quite as much time as I would've liked but I have a good basis to progress from tomorrow. The track is quite tricky; the corners pull you into them which can make you run in too quickly and mess up the following corner. You have to get the first corner right to get the third corner right at this circuit."
Massimo Roccoli (17th - 1'43.775 - Yamaha Team Italia)
"I've got a lot of work to tomorrow following today's results. In this morning's session I had set-up problems. This afternoon I was trying to improve my time with a soft rear tyre when I encountered a slower rider in front of me. I hope there is no rain tomorrow; if it rains improving my grid position will be much harder."
Circuit Length: 4265
Temp: 19
Weather: Dry
Qualifying 1 - WSS Lausitzring:
1. Sebastien Charpentier - Honda - FRA 1'41.366
2. Kenan Sofuoglu - Honda - TUR 1'41.837
3. Broc Parkes - Yamaha - AUS 1'41.994
4. Katsuaki Fujiwara - Honda - JPN 1'42.280
5. Matthieu Lagrive - Honda - FRA 1'42.534
6. Vesa Kallio - Suzuki - FIN 1'43.160
7. Tommy Hill - Yamaha - GBR 1'43.215
8. David Checa - Yamaha - ESP 1'43.272
9. Joan Lascorz - Honda - ESP 1'43.282
10. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA 1'43.340
11. Simone Sanna - Honda - ITA 1'43.461
12. Pere Riba - Kawasaki - ESP 1'43.523
13. Joshua Brookes - Honda - AUS 1'43.586
14. Barry Veneman - Suzuki - NED 1'43.639
15. Craig Jones - Honda - GBR 1'43.683
17. Massimo Roccoli - Yamaha - ITA 1'43.775
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